Add fins to your aquatic fitness program to help you strengthen and tone your leg and core muscles. Fins increase the amount of water your feet move when you kick, which means you’ll reap the benefits that come with increased resistance training. By modifying cardiovascular exercises such as running, walking and water aerobics for fin use, and through adapting kicking styles when wearing fins, you’ll be able to maximize the benefits of working out in water.

Muscle Tone and Strength

An advantage of proper fin use is an increase in potential for toning and strengthening leg and core muscles through increased resistance training. For your kicking to be effective, your legs need to be straight and your toes pointed. Ankles and knees should be relaxed as you kick from the hip. Get the feel for kicking with fins by pointing your toes and kicking with tiny movements, gradually widening your kick as you begin to feel how they work against the water’s resistance to push you up or forward.

Core Work

Exercises that work the core strengthen and tone the underlying muscles in your upper and lower torso, including your abdomen. While you use your legs to kick, proper kicking comes from the hips, working your glutes and abs. Wearing fins increases the intensity at which these muscles are worked, which could help you develop stronger and more toned muscles. To avoid soreness from overdoing your workout, use fins only for short periods of time at first, building gradually to progressively more vigorous levels of intensity.

Burn More Calories

If you goal is weight loss, adding fins to your water exercise program can give you the advantage of added resistance. Because the use of fins means increased resistance as you move your legs in the water, the intensity of your workout while wearing fins and kicking properly could result in an increase in calories burned. Burn more calories, MayoClinic.com advises, by increasing either the intensity, the duration or both when you work out. Adding fins to part of your workout can do both, increasing intensity with added resistance and making it fun to work out longer with the change of pace in routine.

Fin Length and Fit

To avoid having them fall off while wearing them in the water, your fins should have a snug fit that is neither too tight nor painful. Short socks may help if you tend to get blisters, but this can be avoided with properly fitting fins. Fin length varies, and you’ll want to use a length that complements your workout style. The advantage of using short blade fins is that they are developed to build a stronger kick and increase ankle flexibility in competitive and fitness swimmers. Long blade fins are great for overall leg muscle and core conditioning and offer stronger propulsion.